Herb Alpert: Whipped Cream Other Delights

My pal Bill C. told me he likes this record. Probably for the distinstinctive album cover, but the songs on it are great too. If you click on the the title of this post (words in green) I will take you via embedded link to a website where a fellow record collector will give you a terrific overview of this record. OK, Bill, here is your record - now post a comment, below.

Chet Atkins, CGP: Mr. Guitar

I must have at least a dozen Chet Atkins records. I chose this one because I like the cover photo. This record is titled just plain Chet. It was relased in 1967. Certified Guitar Player. TGIF.

Elvis: 1961 (great year) - Blue Hawaii

This is a pretty badly damaged record (cover), likely from standing water in a Brookfield basement, but who cares – it’s Elvis and I love it. Got it last summer in a box of other records at a garage sale. By surprise, six or seven other Elvis records were in the box! Blue Hawaii, the soundtrack album to the film of the same name, was recorded in March of 1961, just a month after I was born, at Radio Recorders studio in California. It was released in October of that year. A bunch of the songs on it were written by the duo of Roy C. Bennett and Sid Tepper, whoever they are. Backing musicians, among others, are the Jordanaires – background vocals, Bob Moore on bass, the great Floyd Cramer on piano, and D.J. Fontana on drums.

Sky High by Jigsaw; U.S.A. Records

These are my two new favorite 45's. Jigsaw's Sky High is an awesome song. The other is important based on the record label: U.S.A. Records. Greg Kot, the rock music critic in the Tribune, reviewed a 2 CD set called “2131 South Michigan Avenue: '60s Garage & Psychedelia from U.S.A. and Destination Records.” Kot wrote – “the compilation highlights the ‘60s Golden Age of Midwestern garage-rock, when bands such as the Buckinghams, the Cryan’ Shames and the Flock all scored national hits. Housed in a dingy recording studio at 2131 South Michigan Avenue across the street from Chess Records in Chicago, the U.S.A. label and its Destination offshoot signed those marquee names and dozens more who never were heard from again, some with good reason. But there are more than enough shots of one-hit-wonder creativity amid these 40 tracks to justify the release, in particular the thrift-store psychedelia of Park Avenue Playground’s “The Trip,” the Near North Side sneer of the teenage Foggy Notions, the rooster-in-a-henhouse strut of the Lost Agency’s “One Girl Man,” and Oscar Hamod & the Majestics boasting, “I’m the soul finger, bay-beee!” over a nasty fuzz-tone guitar.” Thanks Greg.

Sammy Hagar: Standing Hampton

This is one one my "deserted island" records. It’s an antiquated scenario now with iPods and iPhones - but the music discussion-starter used to be: “if you were stranded on a deserted island, and could only have five record albums – which ones would they be? Standing Hampton is on my list. Killer rock tunes all, from start to finish, my favs are: I’ll Fall in Love Again, Can’t Get Loose, Baby’s on Fire, and Surrender. Reminds me of driving up to Wisconsin in the Prelude with Bo and the guys for weekends of water skiing and beer tents back in the eighties.

45 RPM Singles - Sky High by Jigsaw

The 45 RPM (aka 7 inch single) plays at 45 rpm - duh. It was first introduced in 1949 by RCA (Radio Corporation of America) as a replacement for the old 78 rpm bakelite records. The first ones were mono (monaural) and have recordings on both sides of the disc. When stereophonic records came along in the 1960s, most 45 records were made in stereo. Looks like I have a huge sorting project to do with these 45's.I scored a box of about 150 of them yesterday for just ten bucks at a garage sale. One was Sky High by a UK band called Jigsaw – on the Chelsea Records label. http://tinyurl.com/abjedh
WLS and WCFL played that one incessantly in 1975 - but it is a cool song. It reached #3 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in the US.